Vehicles enter Peoria on westbound I-74 as seen from atop Fondulac Bridge in East Peoria. (MATT DAYHOFF/JOURNAL STAR)

Interstate travel is often mundane, with a local exception of the approach to Peoria from the east.

In one special place, you get the gift of drive-thru sightseeing.

Westbound on I-74 in Tazewell County, the four-laner wends gently around the East Peoria hillside. From that heightened vantage, just before the roadway gradually dips down the bluff and toward the Murray Baker Bridge, the view explodes, expansive and impressive along the west bank of the Illinois River. Man’s modern skyline stretches above and along nature’s ancient waterway, reaching for the limitless sky.

Of all “101 Things,” this view — this singular, sensational view — was the entry that readers demanded most. As one wrote, “It’s magical at night. We would be returning from my grandparent’s home when I was a kid, and when we would come around the bend, Peoria was sparkling there in the valley, like some Midwestern Oz.”

It’s hard to take a photo of such a thing. Sure, you can snap a quick shot. But the sight never seems as glorious as the one longtime locals carry in their mind, this impression — day or night — of our city at its resplendent finest.

As much as I love THIS view of Peoria is the ‘ priceless ‘ shock upon newcomers faces as they see it for the first time. I’ll never forget, coming home at night for a weekend from ISU in 1987, aboard Peoria Charter. I was seated in front of a group of other college students, from one of the U of I campuses, who kept mocking what they expected Peoria to be like (ex: endless cornfields, farms, grain silos, etc. ). As we neared that sloping I-74 bend, a female Peoria student kept readying the others to prepare for the night skyline. However, by the sounds of their remarks and snickering, her civic affection seemed in vain.

I felt a huge sense of smug satisfaction, as the Peoria skyline came into view, and the laughter instantly stopped. In the words of an old saying…. ” You could have heard a pin drop. ” They were stunned. It was quite obvious that Peoria wasn’t what her friends were expecting. I, so, wanted to turn around and say to them…. ” SO THERE! ” Instead, I’ll never forget the impression THAT particular moment had not only upon some strangers. But, upon me too. Because, as a native, I had always taken our beautiful city for granted.